“Through its teaching, research and service, The University of Michigan has secured a place for itself among the country’s elite centers of higher learning. This position has been achieved and maintained, at least in part, by the University’s long tradition of continuously evaluating and improving its academic programs. Just as the University is continually looking for creative ways to renew and improve its academic programs, we believe it must also be a University priority to examine and better understand its administrative and business processes. All of these processes, directly or indirectly, support the educational and scholarly mission of the University and are, therefore, essential to the institution’s overall well-being. We believe that all of the people—staff and faculty alike—who are involved with administrative and business processes at the University have a strong natural desire to provide better services. More often than not, however, they find that the University’s internal change process is not as conscious, systematic or constructive as it could be. Thus, the challenge is to expand opportunities for innovation and creativity so that administrative and business improvements can occur more readily.”

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